Mr. Speaker, we have still not regained all the jobs lost in the recession, so playing games with the statistics does not change the facts.
Last week's numbers showed a new decline in the number of people working. Some 250,000 were out of work for 27 weeks or more in 2012, twice as many as in 2008.
The Conservatives' solution is to cut unemployment assistance and drive more people onto the provincial welfare rolls. Exactly how is a mean-spirited attack on the unemployed helping our economy?